Western Road, Hurstpierpoint

Image: © Simon Carey Taken: 7 Aug 2014

Originally the old road heading north from the village until it was replaced by a new turnpike in the early 19th century that is now Cuckfield Road. On the 1874 OS map the road is called Whitehorse lane after the inn at the southern end of the road, by 1897 it had become Chinese Lane after the Chinese Gardens, which had opened in 1843, and occupied the area to the east of the lane, roughly where the houses are on the left, see Image for more details. By 1910 it had settled on its current name. The road itself developed from either end and eventually met in the middle, containing Victorian cottages to the north, Edwardian cottages spreading southwards on the western side of the road and a lot of housing added during the interwar years. More modern housing was added after the Chinese Gardens closed in the 1950s, as well as those on the site of the old gas works and the Pierpoint, a public house built for the gardens that survived into the 1990s.

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